Steven Universe Drabbles
by Lindous
Summary: No matter what happens, Steven will always be there for the gems. And the Crystal Gems will always be there for Steven.
1. Water Slide

"Look at that!" Steven pointed. The sun had only just risen over Beach City, giving it a nice, gentle amount of light. Kids were already pouring onto the board walk to get an early start at the games and theme park, but Steven chose to point to something much less impressive: some of the kids on the beach, who were much younger than him, had chosen to set up a small slip-n'-slide.

"Human children?" Garnet asked, looking down at Steven.

Pearl cocked her head to one side, smiling in fascination and deep in thought.

"It appears as though to be a form of enjoyment for those kids," she said. "Look at how far they go! Garnet, are you watching this?"

"Make way!" Amethyst yelled, running toward the children and their slide. The children scattered. Amethyst flopped and slid belly-first down the slide, finally stopping at the end. There was a loud 'pop' that elicited from from the rubber slide, and Steven heard the sound of air rushing out of the rubber chambers as Amethyst stood up and stepped away.

Steven winced. "Amethyst...come back..." He beckoned subtly for her to hurry.

"Ah, lighten up, Steven! What's the hur-"

"What is going on here?"

Amethyst turned around, and looked up to find Mr. Smiley towering over her with an expression of anger tattooed across his face.

"I set this up for the children!" Mr. Smiley reprimanded, face turning red with anger. "For children!"

Steven rushed over, quickly taking Amethyst's hand in his own and pulling her toward the other gems.

"Come on, Amethyst...Let's go..." Steven whispered. Amethyst glared back defiantly at Mr. Smiley.

"It was the most pathetic slide I've been on," she said with a challenging grin, "And I'm older than you."

For a moment, Steven could have sworn that he saw steam pouring out of Mr. Smiley's ears. Choosing then to leave, Amethyst firmly grasped Steven's hand and ran with him back to the other gems.

"You selfish hooligans!" he yelled after them. "Just try to get on any of the board walk attractions after this!"

Garnet shook her head, electing to walk back to the temple with Pearl rather than run back with Steven and Amethyst.

* * *

"Hey Steven?" Amethyst asked from the lower floor of the temple house. Steven lay face down on his bed at the top of the stairs.

"What?"

Amethyst rocked on her feet, mildly abashed. "The gems and I thought of something cool."

"Okay. What?"

"Well, remember the water slide from a few days ago?" Amethyst asked.

"I still feel bad for all those kids."

"That's just the thing...Why did you like it so much?"

Steven paused for a moment before answering.

"It reminded me of the time I spent with my dad during summer. Those days just stopped happening suddenly, and now I haven't been on a water slide in years."

"Well," Amethyst mischievously, "That changes today! Come on!" She ran up the stairs, and before Steven had any time to react, pulled him into her arms and held him over her head. Amethyst ran outside of the temple with Steven, carrying him to the top of the cliff that the temple was built into.

There was a loud rumble of water, not unlike a waterfall, that Steven noticed the entire way up the cliff. Looking down from the top of the cliff, Steven saw a rather steep water slide that had been carved and then built into the rock, and led down to the beach. A large pool of water sat in reserve at the top of the cliff for the slide, which was constantly refilled be a small, not quite subtle portal that one of the gems created near the bottom of the pool.

"WHOA!" Steven yelled, giggling. He splashed into the cold pool, sending drops everywhere.

Pearl winced when she was hit by the water.

"Um, Steven," she began. "Do you think that you could be a little more...?"

"How do you live in a room that is mostly made of water when you're inside the temple, and then can't stand it here?" Amethyst asked over the roar of the water.

As a treat to Steven (and as their own way of having fun), the gems had decided that they would create an object that humans called a 'water slide.'

Steven swam for a few moments with Amethyst, but then came to the surface of the water.

"Hey," Steven said to Pearl, who still sat at the pool's edge. "Where's Garnet?"

Pearl gave a small, playful smile. "That's something you have to find out."

"Huh?"

"Look out Steven! This waterfall-slide had hard current!" Amethyst yelled when she reached the surface of the pool. She shoved Steven in the direction where the slide began, and watched, giggling, as he was caught in the current.

"AHHHHH!" Steven yelled, flailing his arms as he raced down the surprisingly-smooth slide. He saw a blur of red and black for a moment, and saw a flash of light. But before he knew it, Steven was at the bottom of the slide.

As the current slowed down, Steven continued to shiver from the exhilaration of the ride. He laughed, floating on his back until he washed onto the sand of the beach a moment later. Looking up, Steven noticed that Garnet was standing above him, holding out a small paper for him to take.

"Souvenir photo," Garnet explained as she held the paper out to Steven. "Humans take them when they go on thrill rides."

The photo was blurry.

* * *

After a few more runs down the slide (Pearl even tried it once with Steven), people began to gather at the beach to watch the commotion. Amethyst splashed down into the water, resurfacing to see the children whose slide she ruined.

Amethyst looked sad for a moment, and slowly walked over.

"Do you wanna try?" she asked them, and watched each of their faces light up. "Let's go!" Now Amethyst was smiling as she led the new party up the hill. The crowd followed, and before it was taken down, the slide was the best attraction in Beach City, let alone the board walk.

* * *

**We totally need some drabbles in this archive. If you guys have any ideas or anything you want to see, I'd love to know! Until then, I'll just go by whatever comes to my head. **

**I expect that this story will be one of those 'let's update it every week, maybe twice if it's a good week' stories, so thanks for the support =)**


	2. Sandwiches and Snowballs

**Hey guys! What's up?**

**Okay, I'm glad I finally get to update this fic. I've been sick for the last few days (and thank God I'm finally feeling better), and this one was a little hard to write, but a great idea none the less.**

**Mr. A F Moroon, I hope this drabble is everything you wanted it to be. =) Special credit goes to you for the idea, and thanks very much. **

**Please Review!**

* * *

"ECHO!" Steven shouted into the series of snow-blanketed mountains ahead of him. He leaned into the direction in which he shouted, clearing his hair away from his left ear, and smiled in satisfaction when he heard the faint and distant echo of his voice against the mountains.

"Ste-ven! Hurry up!" Amethyst called back to him.

"Okay!" Steven called back. He heard the soft 'crunch' of snow beneath his feet as he ran back to the Amethyst and the rest of the gems.

The Crystal Gems were visiting the Himalayas, as there had been a recently-located mineral found just beneath the coordinates 27 degrees 59' 17"N 86 degrees 55' 31"E, or so Garnet had said. The new mineral was a destructive fire crystal, and many of the humans that came by those coordinates were never seen again. Therefore, the gems took it upon themselves to make this part of the mountains safer for humans traveling through this area.

Steven came along because Garnet had reasoned, despite Pearl's objections, that it was a safe enough mission for all four gems to be on. Currently, the gems were in the lower Himalayas, heading back for the only warp pad for several miles.

"Ughhhhh," Steven groaned as he caught up to the gems, dragging his feet through the snow. They had been walking for several hours. "This takes forever...Why didn't other gems just build another warp pad in the upper Himalayas?"

"No gem has ever really needed access there," Garnet explained, looking straight ahead.

"Historically speaking, it is a little rare to need to travel to such a cold location as this," Pearl began. "I don't understand why humans are so fascinated with climbing these mountains..."

"They crave a sense of adventure," Amethyst muttered in response. "Tall rocks are fun to climb. And to smash."

"Don't be so juvenile, Amethyst," Pearl said. "What's really intriguing is the mineral composition and erosion that occurs in these 'rocks.' I mean, what's the use of climbing them?"

Steven groaned out loud again. "Could you guys please stop it?" he asked, clutching his head. He watched as Garnet turned around and stared down at him with interest.

"Altitude sickness?" she asked simply, yet remained perfectly serious.

Steven looked back at Garnet with curiosity and nodded quickly.

"Let's take a break," Garnet declared.

The gems gently sat down in the snow, and Steven took off his cheese-burger backpack.

"Bagel sandwich?" he offered, holding one out to Pearl.

Pearl gingerly took the food she was offered, and watched as Amethyst and Garnet each accepted one from Steven as well. Taking a small bite, Pearl was surprised by how good the sandwich tasted.

After the meal, Steven watched as dark clouds passed over the sky. "I wish that some of these missions wouldn't take as long," he mused quietly.

Amethyst looked down at the snow, and glanced back at Steven deviously. Getting up and backing a few feet away from the rest of the gems, she quietly scooped up a hand full of snow and pressed it together, taking aim.

"Hey, Steven?" Amethyst asked from a few feet away.

"Yeah, Amethyst?" Steven answered, sitting up. He felt something cold hit him right in the face, and heard Amethyst start laughing. Steven looked down to see a shattered snowball on his lap. He glanced up at Amethyst and heard her laugh harder.

"You have snow in your eyebrows," Amethyst chortled, pointing at Steven and falling onto her back.

Steven grinned in response, getting onto his knees and picking up some snow. Crushing it into a misshapen sphere, Steven aimed and hit Amethyst in in the stomach a moment later. She laughed in response before picking up more snow.

Pearl and Garnet watched as Steven and Amethyst shot snowballs back and forth at each other.

"Amethyst," Pearl began after a moment. "Not too hard..."

Amethyst geared up and hurriedly shot another snowball, but miscalculated her aim. Steven watched in horror as Amethyst's snowball smashed into Pearl's face.

Pearl flinched away from the hit, blinking wet snow out of her eyes. She looked over at Steven, and then back at Amethyst before shaking the snow off her head.

Crushing snow together into a precise sphere, Pearl gracefully launched a snowball straight at Amethyst, and watched in satisfaction as it smashed to pieces upon hitting Amethyst in the face. Laughing, Pearl moved in to create another snowball.

Garnet smiled lightheartedly, bending over and scooped up snow, crushing it together, and handing it to Pearl.

"Do your worst," Garnet offered, standing up and backing away. She scooped up two more snowballs, throwing one in Amethyst's direction, and one in Pearl's.

And just like that, the battle was on! Garnet seemed to be almost immortal, hardly being grazed by any of the snowballs that the gems threw in her direction. Without even realizing it, as they still aimed for each other at the beginning of the battle, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven were slowly coming together as Garnet sent constant wave after wave of snow at them, until the battle quickly became a three-on-one war.

Garnet would randomly flash by at amazing speed, a red blur against the white backround of the mountains as the gems kept trying to hit her.

"Amethyst! Look out!" Steven shouted, diving in front of the gem with his arms outstretched and taking the hit for himself.

"Yeah, Steven!" Amethyst answered, hurtling snowballs when she saw Garnet flash by.

A few feet away, Pearl was suddenly being pelted with snow until she fell over, practically buried. Amethyst stepped away from Steven for a moment, pulling the smaller gem out of the snow.

"I-its s-so c-ol-old..." Pearl said, her teeth chattering. Icicles hung from her her hair and nose, and her skin had grown to a new level of pale. Steven looked away, beginning to get to his feet when he saw a flash of red stop beside him.

"Garnet!" he shouted in shock, but instead of stumbling away, he scrambled forward and gripped her leg, hanging on for dear life as she took off again with a flash.

"Steven," she murmured, looking down and stopping at the top of small snow mound, out of sight from the other two gems. Steven hung from her leg as he shivered violently, his skin a pale white.

Garnet bent over, pulling Steven off of her legs and into her arms. As he continued to shiver and shut his eyes, Garnet's gems began to glow, warming him up. She hugged him tighter, trying to keep him warm.

"Garnet, it's okay..." Steven began saying. Garnet's eyes snapped open as she realized that Steven was now sweating in her arms.

"Oh," Garnet said, slightly shocked. "Sorry..." She put Steven down on his feet.

"It's alright," Steven said with a grin. "That was fun!"

Garnet nodded, and smiled gently. "We needed to relax. I wonder how the other two are doing now that we are gone..."

Steven looked back around the snow mound, looking over at the two gems. "Pearl's fine, now they are just fighting with each other. With snowballs," he added. "Except it's not very friendly..."

"Hmmmm...Would you like to help me to fix that?" Garnet asked Steven, her hands on her hips. Steven's eyes brightened into stars as he nodded excitedly, and Garnet watched as he stuck out his chest and a serious look passed onto his face.

"Let's do this," Steven said.

* * *

"Amethyst! Quit putting ice inside of them! That's not fair!" Pearl shouted.

"Ugh, you always say things like that..." Amethyst shouted back, rolling her eyes and dropping her snow. She shape-shifted into a snowman, but her head remained the same. "Try and peg me with snow. It doesn't even hurt!"

Pearl stared in shock as snow suddenly piled over Amethyst, burying her up to her neck. Coughing and sputtering the snow out of her face, Amethyst looked around to where the snow could have come from while Pearl covered her mouth in attempt to hide her laughter.

A moment later, another pile of snow landed on top of Pearl. This time it was Garnet and Steven who were heard laughing. Almost as if out of nowhere, Garnet leaped down to Amethyst and Pearl with Steven in her arms. She set Steven down on the ground, and smiled triumphantly.

"It's getting cold out here," Steven said after a few moments of silence. "This was fun, but we should really be getting home. Anyone for hot chocolate?"

"That...actually sounds pretty good," Pearl admitted, ungracefully squirming out of the snow and leaping onto the ground beside Garnet.

"Yeah," Amethyst shrugged, shifting out of the snow and leaping down. "Let's go."

"We gotta do that again soon," Steven said. "And Garnet, how did you throw snow that fast? I mean, that was awesome! I thought only humans did snowball fights!"

"Rose and Greg often had snowball fights one winter. I got involved once, and they teamed up against me," Garnet said with a reminiscent smile. "They never stood a chance."


	3. Raining Cats

**I have been a bit busy lately. And I have another one-shot in progress, as well as many good ideas coming in =) Thank you all for the great support on this story. **

**This idea was from Trollface Mastah. Thank you so much, and I hope this is at least as good as you thought it would be =)**

* * *

"Hey Dad! Dad!"

Greg looked up from where he was scrubbing the windshield of Mayor Dewey's van. It was a nice, crisp, autumn day, with grey clouds that had slowly drifted in, forming a protective cover over the sky. The wind rustled a few leaves aside on the road as Steven happily ran up to his father.

"Steven?" Greg asked curiously, putting down his hose and letting water run onto the concrete ground. The first thing he noticed as Steven ran up to him was that his boy was out of breath.

"Dad! I came to tell you that Connie lost her cat over the weekend," Steven had his arms raised, preforming wild gesticulations as he related the story of how Connie had to leave town with her family last weekend and returned to learn that her kitten had gone missing from the house. It was too young to be out alone, and with the prediction of rain coming later that day, her and her family were out looking for the poor thing.

"And that's why I need you to keep an eye out for it," Steven finished. "Apparently, his name is Artemis. He was really small when I got to see him...Tell us if you find a little black and white kitten, okay?"

"Um, yeah Steven. I'll keep an eye out for him," Greg said with a simple smile.

"Thanks Dad!" Steven said, taking off and waving behind him. "I have to keep looking. I'll come by tomorrow!"

* * *

"Sheesh, now _that's _a storm."

From the inside of the car wash, Greg watched as the windows threatened to burst inward, rattling in their frames against strong wind. A small distance away, out at the beach, sailors were frantically trying to tie down the boats and trawlers. The sky had been dark gray, almost black, until the had sun set. The power had gone out only a few minutes earlier, coupled with a sudden onslaught of painful (and noisy) hail, so Greg had decided to 'abandon van' and retreat to the shop part of the car wash that was more fit to withstand such weather conditions.

There was a loud crack of thunder that made Greg jump out of his chair, fumbling with the book and flashlight he was holding.

"Whoa," he said out loud, rubbing his forehead. "Storm hasn't been this bad in at least thirteen years..." He looked over at a small photo that was hung up on the wall of beautiful woman with curly, pink hair.

"Remember that?" Greg asked the photo. "Back when you were pregnant with our son..."

There was another loud crack of thunder, sounding similar to a bomb going off, or maybe part of the car wash caving in, and this time, Greg found himself face-down on the floor.

"I hate thunder," he muttered, picking up the flashlight on the ground beside him. It had gone dark upon striking the ground.

"_Meow."_

Greg looked up, raising an eyebrow. The door of the shop had something small, and weak, pushing on the other side.

"Meow." It was a pitifully small meow, followed by a pitifully small hiss after another round of thunder sounded.

Greg stood up, tossing the broken flashlight aside, and hobbled toward the door. He looked out the small window, glancing downward, and there on the ground in front of the door was perhaps the smallest cat he had ever seen. It didn't even look as though it should be weened off it's mother's milk, let alone sitting out there, alone, begging for shelter.

Needless to say, and after much effort against the brutal wind, Greg managed to crack the door open just far enough for the small, black and white kitten to scuddle inside.

* * *

"Some milk?" Greg offered, setting down a small dish before the kitten.

The small feline was literally swindled inside a blanket, wrapped up like a cinnamon roll with only his head protruding out of the top.

"Meow," it responded curiously, pulling it's front paws out just far enough to lean forward and take a taste of the milk before he shook it off his whiskers and glared at Greg.

"I never said it was good milk," Greg answered back with a shrug. "I don't know when it was put inside the fridge. And the fridge must have stopped working...maybe before the power went out."

The kitten seemed to raise an eyebrow at him before it stoically began to gaze forward, before then proceeding to lick himself dry.

Greg shrugged, standing upright and walking back toward his chair. The small cat snapped its head upward, pausing in mid-tongue-stroke, and then stood up and followed Greg.

"Hey! What are you...?"

"Meow."

"Shoo," Greg said, waving his hands. "Go back to your blanket."

"_Meow."_

"I said, 'Shoo,'" Greg answered, looking a bit apprehensive. The kitten purred loudly, taking a few more steps further to Greg and pressing its face against his feet. Greg felt a strange, uncontrollable smile pass over his face.

"Well, I guess you can walk around for a little while. I was just going to stay in here the night," he said out loud, looking down at the cat. It purred a little louder.

For awhile, it seemed to prance around the room in circles, its long gaze drifting up the walls in search of anything to play with. Greg sat back in his chair, and watched as the kitten continued to walk the perimeter of the room. The thunder had stopped crashing as loudly, but the rain was still pouring down. Greg lay back in his chair, stretching out and yawning. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

"Sheesh, look at all that water damage..."

"Meow."

"Yeah, right? This is going to take awhile to clean up."

Greg had woken up that morning to find that the kitten had hopped up and taken to lying across his chest, the absolute picture of relaxation. When he had finally chosen to get up and see how the car wash had fared throughout the night, the cat simply got up, and followed him out the door a moment later, and sat down beside where Greg now stood.

"Hey Dad!"

"Steven?" Greg called out, leaning and glancing beyond the car wash (the kitten did the same) as Steven rode up on his scooter. Connie was beside him on her bike.

"Mr. Universe...Have you seen any signs of Artemis?" Connie asked timidly.

"Hm," Greg said, looking down at the kitten sitting beside him.

"He was too young to be out last night," Connie continued, riding closer and stopping about ten feet away. "I don't think he made it..." Greg could tell that she was doing her best not to burst into tears. He smiled lightly, and picked up the kitten that had sat down beside him. It meowed at Greg indignantly.

"Is this what you are looking for, by chance?"

Connie's eyes widened upon seeing Artemis. She stepped off of her bike, leaving it lying on its side as she ran over.

"YES! How did you find him? Is he okay? Did he give you any trouble?" Connie asked each question without giving Greg a chance to answer the last.

"Um...he was fine. Just a little rattled by the storm, is all. I can't say I haven't grown a little attached to the little guy, though," Greg said with an easy smile and shrug. Connie leaned in and hugged him.

"Thank you so much," she said, small tears forming in her eyes. "I was so worried..."

"Wow, Dad, that's so cool!" Steven said, waving his arms. "I wish cats came up to me during thunderstorms." Steven smiled to himself, giggled a little bit at the thought. "I guess you could say it would be as if it were 'raining cats and dogs.'"

When his pun was met with silence, Steven still kept an equally enthusiastic smile.

"Thanks again, Mr. Universe," Connie said with a smile, collecting Artemis.

"It was no problem," Greg said, waving as the two kids looked back toward their bikes. The small cat poked its head over Connie's shoulder, looking back at Greg, and meowed. Greg waved back, and watched as the kids left.


	4. Of All the Beautiful Moments, Part 1

"Why won't he stop crying?!"

"I don't know, what do you want me to do?!" Pearl shouted back at Amethyst, on the verge of tears. She held a small baby in her arms.

"Stop," Garnet commanded, sounding mostly stoic, but her voice breaking slightly. "Give the boy to his father."

Greg Universe looked as though he were in shock when saw that Rose had disappeared. Shaking, he didn't accept the child as it was thrust toward him. Pearl kept a firm hold on Steven when his father refused to notice the baby in all his stress.

"Rose..." Greg whimpered, his voice cracking. "Rose! Where's my wife?! Where's my Rose?!"

He collapsed onto his knees, sobbing, with his face in the side of the bed where Rose Quartz had been laying. Garnet watched, her face completely void of all emotion. The sky outside the window was dark.

"Get up," she commanded Greg. Amethyst looked over and noticed for the first time that Garnet's glasses were dark enough to obscure her view of Garnet's eyes.

"I'm not getting up! Where's my wife? Where is she?" Greg demanded, his face red, and his eyes streaming tears when he looked up at Garnet.

"She's gone, and you have a child. It's a boy." Garnet's voice held almost a warm calmness, but was stoic none the less. The same way she would later talk to Steven.

"I can't have him! Not without Rose!" Greg shouted, clutching the sides of his heads. He tears were pouring out of his eyes, and he was acting in a hysterical form of shock.

Baby Steven let out a loud wail for the first time since he was born a few minutes earlier.

"Greg!" Pearl shouted, still panicking, "You're scaring the baby!"

"I don't care about the baby! I want Rose!"

"Greg! Keep it together! She's gone; you have a child!" Amethyst yelled, waving her arms. "She's gone and she's not coming back! So just take the child and go home!"

Everyone in the room paused, turning and staring at Amethyst. Greg opened his eyes widely enough to stare at Amethyst.

"Amethyst," Garnet said finally. "Get out. Let us handle this. Get to your room in the temple...And calm down."

Amethyst was seething, her eyes wide open, as she shook her head in anger, but refused to cry out in any anguish.

"I'm going back to the temple," she mumbled through gritted teeth, and slammed the door hard enough that it fell off of its hinges when she left.

Garnet turned to Pearl. She had just managed to calm down Steven, and was quietly humming to the boy in her arms.

"May I hold him?" Garnet asked calmly, refusing to look down at Greg sobbing into the bed where Rose had been laying. Out of sight, out of mind.

"Um, sure," Pearl said nervously, maintaining a tight grip on the child as she tentatively held him out. "Just be careful Garnet. If you drop him, you could kill him."

Garnet didn't show how much what Pearl had said just scared her. She was not used to anything being this delicate. And as the child was passed into her arms, it began to cry hysterically.

"What do I...? Garnet murmured uncertainly, and passed the child back to Pearl. He calmed down immediately in Pearl's arms.

"It's okay, Garnet," Pearl said, calming down slightly. "I don't know what it is about human children, really. I think he just misses his mother..."

Garnet remained silent.

Greg took in an audibly deep breath, and stood up, his knees trembling.

"Pearl," Greg asked uncertainly, shaking as he spoke. "May I hold the baby?" He'd spoken for a moment as though he could not believe it was his son that he was talking about.

Pearl nodded slowly, becoming less nervous as she adjusted to the fact that Rose was gone.

"Here," she told Greg. "Be gentle...good..."

Greg held out his arms, and watched as the child was gently deposited in his trembling hands. His breathing became more calm, and he pulled the child closer to his face. Steven remained calm.

"My son..." Greg said, tears streaming out of his eyes again as he sat down, clutching Steven and crying from his loss.

Garnet looked down at the bed the Rose had been laying in one last time, and still said nothing. She looked perfectly emotionless.


	5. Of All the Beautiful Moments, Part 2

Rose pedals drifted gently through the air. Clouds dotted the sky, but not so much so that some of the blue sky could not peer through them. Garnet listened and heard children laughing in the distance. She turned for a moment to the sound, taking in a deep breath, and did her best to tune it out. Now was not a time to focus on such things.

The grass felt unusually soft beneath her feet as Garnet walked with Pearl and Amethyst. The other two gems had not entirely noticed how much more reclusive Garnet had become since Rose had left them; Amethyst still remembered, as did Pearl, the fact that Garnet's glasses had darkened to cover her eyes the day that Steven was born, but that was all the other two gems had taken notice of.

An image passed through her mind, an image of Rose, her body just lying there limply, engulfed in light, and suddenly only a few sparkles in the air.

Garnet paused where she stood, kneeling down on one knee, and clutching her forehead in pain.

"Garnet...?" Pearl said turning around. Amethyst gasped, and immediately knelt down by the bigger gem.

"You alright?" Amethyst asked slowly, raising an eyebrow. Her voice cracked slightly.

"I'm fine," Garnet almost growled, standing up straight. "Let's just get on with it then, shall we?" She kept herself from stomping ahead of the group, but instead kept them all at a brisk pace.

Pearl had changed into a completely black dress earlier that day. Amethyst had done likewise, but rather wore black trousers and a long sleeve shirt.

Garnet had chosen to wear a long black dress and cloak. It was only fitting, really. But the weather was so much nicer than the event entailed.

"Ready to warp?" Garnet asked when they were a reasonable distance away from civilization. The warp pad at the temple was out of commission.

Pearl and Amethyst nodded solemnly, and stepped onto the pad with Garnet. There erupted a bright flash of light, and the three gems were gone.

* * *

"Brambles are starting to grow...they know she's gone," Amethyst said, looking around at the thorns growing over Rose's sanctuary. Pearl was trying not to break down.

"Everything's going to change from here..." she whispered quietly. "What will become of us? Garnet? Amethyst? What are we going to do?"

When Amethyst didn't respond, Garnet managed to gather enough voice to speak up.

"It will be alright. Really, I think we can manage it."

This kept Pearl calmer for a moment as they began to trudge through what had been Rose's most precious sanctuary, her healing spring. The gems remained silent as they walked through the passages with finally emerged into a large cavern with Rose's statue. The walls were pink, and rose pedals glided through the air.

"Oh no..." Garnet exclaimed very softly. The statue of Rose no longer crying; the fountain had run dry. She heard Amethyst gasp in surprise, and Pearl whimper out loud.

"It's fine," Garnet said out loud, suppressing the anger she felt. "It's fine. Let's get to this, then."

When a gem died, having the individual's companions shatter the remaining stone was the equivalent to how a human would close another's eyes when they died. Since no gemstone was present, the gems decided instead to recover the only weapon that they had know Rose had left: a small, thin, pinkish sword with a white hilt.

"Should we...Say a few words then?" Amethyst asked uncertainly. Pearl nodded with gentle vigor, stepping forward as the first to speak.

"Well," Pearl managed to say, her voice cracking slightly with sadness. "I know that she would appreciate that we care for her. Although, she was endowed with great love, and love always healed. I never remember a time where Rose stayed angry or was unforgiving of others. She was wonderful, and she helped me find myself when I needed her the most. That is what I appreciate about her, and that's all I can say for the moment."

Pearl took a step back, tears slowly streaming out of her eyes, and both she and Garnet watched as Amethyst stepped forward.

"She found me when I was broken," Amethyst began to say. She drew in a deep breath. "Everyone saw me as being broken, but she helped me realize that that was not my title. She helped me find love and she showed me what it was like to be redeemed. She was the greatest gem that I have ever met."

Amethyst stepped back, and both she and Pearl looked over at Garnet. The bigger gem did not step forward.

Again, the image of Rose disappearing with a flash of light, and no trace left of her, passed through her mind. But this time, Garnet fell onto both knees as she tried to suppress the memory. She let out a soft moan of agony, shaking, as more images of Rose passed through her mind.

"Garnet!" Pearl yelled, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Don't just stand there! Come on, Pearl! Help me get her to the spring!" Amethyst yelled, running to the bigger gem and trying to pull her to her feet. Pearl got on the other side of Garnet and tried to do the same.

"_No." _Garnet spoke with a voice filled with venom, her anger finally bubbling to the surface. Amethyst stepped away from her, knowing what was coming, and pulled Pearl away from Garnet's arm, lest the bigger gem swat away the smaller one.

For the first time in forever, Garnet's glasses came off. Her third eye was closed, but her two eyes were blazing with anger as she stomped, leaving cracks in the marble floor, toward the bigger statues of Rose. She summoned her gauntlets, and began to punch the ground, watching shards of marble fly through the air.

Garnet couldn't stop all of the memories that kept coming to the surface. She felt deaf to the panicking cries of the other two gems as they tried to stop her from pounding the the floor to rubble, but were powerless to do so.

Finally giving the stone a final punch, Garnet let out a loud cry of anguish that echoed through the temple. Amethyst and Pearl both stepped back as they saw their friend sob so hard that she began to shake violently.

"She's gone, and she's never coming back..." Garnet murmured quietly, tears streaming out of her eyes. She dropped down to her knees. Pearl noticed small drops of water hitting the dry marble floor just below Garnet's face."

"...She was too delicate...and now she's gone..." Garnet continued to cry for several minutes, shaking, and her head facing downward. "She left us a child. I can't protect him. I'll end up destroying him, and so many other things...Why does it have to be this way?"

Pearl leaned forward, raising a hand to speak. Amethyst stuck out an arm and stopped her.

"She was my only friend..." Garnet finally seemed to relax. "She came when I had know one. I can't ask for more."

They all sat down for a long moment, and Garnet finally stood up. She turned to the other gems, and Pearl swore later that this was the only time she had seen Garnet's face with tear tracks.

"We need to see Greg," she stated firmly, her voice and tone recovered. "The boy has a gem. It is time we meet the next member of our team." She took a firm stance, and gestured for Rose's sword to be passed over to her.

"I...Oh!" Pearl thought, and then gasped as Amethyst stepped forward with Rose's sword, and gently placed it in Garnet's open hands.

Garnet turned around, waving the sword for a moment, and plunged it into the marble ground she had smashed as a monument. Standing up straight, Garnet drew in a deep breath, and nodded toward Amethyst and Pearl.

They walked toward the entrance of the spring, Amethyst and Pearl moving ahead of Garnet.

Standing at the entrance of the cavern of the main spring, Garnet, standing alone, turned and looked back at the dry spring. She stood there, staring at the statue of Rose, and watched as one small, final tear came out of the statue and gently wisped the marble floor beneath it, falling through the cracks.

Garnet turned back around, with a small smile unknowingly forming on her face, and walked toward the entrance of the spring.


	6. Connie's Questions

**This is another suggestion by Mr. A F Moroon =) Thanks for all the wonderful feedback, everyone!**

**Keep the suggestions coming =) These ideas are great, and this is turning into a great drabble fic!**

* * *

Garnet smiled, and nodded. "You can come, if you like."

Steven's eyes brightened into stars. "Really?!"

"Sure."

Waving his arms frantically, Steven hopped around the bigger gem in delight. "This is gonna be so awesome!" He paused, slowly turning toward Garnet, and gave the bigger gem a serious nod of acknowledgement.

"Thank you," Steven said calmly, "For allowing me to come."

"Your presence on this mission will be most beneficial," Garnet said back, showing no hints of a smile as she nodded back to Steven.

"So, you said we were headed to the plains' temple?" Steven asked, crossing his arms.

"Yes. A monster appears be attacking there. And I need your talents to get it back. Only we are going; Pearl and Amethyst are going to be watching the temple."

"Alright! Let's go!" Steven shouted, his eyes brightening into stars. He paused for a moment.

"Wait, are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked.

"They'll be fine," Garnet shrugged. "Let's get going."

* * *

Pearl looked up.

"Could you be a little quieter?" she asked, irritated. Amethyst was wailing on her drums, and cut off Pearl's statement with a long, full cymbal roll.

"I said, COULD YOU BE A LITTLE QUIETER?" Pearl shouted over the noise, looking uncertain.

"Yes, I think you could bear to be quieter!" Amethyst yelled back.

Pearl finally lost her temper, clutching the sides of her head and squeezing her eyes shut as she made her way up the hall to Amethyst. She pulled the drum sticks out of the other gems hands and threw them across the room, watching as each stick stabbing and sank about three inches into the wall.

"Hey, what was that for?" Amethyst demanded, still sitting on her stool and crossing her arms.

"I asked you to quiet down," Pearl said, regaining her composure, "And you wouldn't listen."

"Oh, speak up next time. You don't need to throw a temper tantrum," Amethyst argued back, rolling her eyes. "Can I have _my_ sticks back _now, _Pearl?"

"Temper tantrum? I am not having a temper tantrum!" Pearl yelled back. "I just want things to go smoothly. Garnet and Steven should be back soon..."

"Oh, for the love of..." Amethyst began, before she and Pearl launched into a bickering battle.

* * *

Connie pulled her bike across the sand, gently laying it down on the grass just outside of the house part of the temple.

"Steven?" she called out, hopping up the wooden steps. She listened for a response, and only heard the beach waves smashing against the stone cliff. "Steven!"

At the top of the small porch, Connie gave the door a quick rap, and awaited a response.

* * *

Pearl dropped the drumsticks that she had been holding just out of Amethyst's reach.

"That sounds like Connie," she said, perking up slightly.

Amethyst dropped the armchair she had been ready to throw at Pearl.

"Steven's not even here," she stated curiously. "So why is she?"

They both paused for a moment, before hearing another knock on the door.

"Um, coming Connie!" Pearl called back. She turned to Amethyst. "Don't screw this up with that obnoxious...drumming," she said, determined to have the final word on the topic.

"Sheesh, I'd think that you would be more appreciative of music," Amethyst mutter back.

"I enjoy music. You were only making senseless noise."

Amethyst shrugged it off, opening the door to the house.

"Hey, Connie," she said, giving the girl a half-smile. "What brings you around?"

"I just wanted to see if Steven wanted to go to the arcade," Connie said with a smile. "Is he in?"

"Actually, he is out with Garnet at the moment," Pearl called from the upper floor of the house. She had chosen to go and organize some of Steven's things when Amethyst went to answer the door.

"Oh," Connie said, looking down at her feet. "Could you tell him that I came by?"

"Sure," Pearl called back, and smiled. "I'm sure he'll be happy to know."

Connie nodded back, and turned away to leave. Amethyst raised her eyebrows, and grinned mischievously.

"Hey, wait a second, Connie," Amethyst called to the girl. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Um, what?" Connie asked shyly, turning back around.

"Usually I notice that you enjoy watching us, especially when we fight," Amethyst said. "What's troubling you this time? Didn't you come with questions ready?"

Connie's eyes visibly brightened as she ran back up the stairs, and Amethyst stepped aside to allow her into the temple.

"A lot of questions!" she almost shouted. "For starters, how are you guys magic?"

Amethyst's gem started to glow as she drew her weapon. A moment after the weapon was in her hand, it disappeared into oblivion, and Amethyst proceeded to shapeshift. Connie flopped down onto the couch, watching as Amethyst fluidly shifted into different animals before finally returning to her normal form.

"It's all concentrated in the gem," Amethyst explained, watching and smiling at Connie's awestruck expression.

"What about Steven? Can he do all that?"

"As far as we know, it's possible," Pearl explained, walking down stairs to the ground level of the house. "He just needs practice."

"What kinds of missions do you guys go on?" Connie continued eagerly.

"Well, we go to retrieve various other gems..." Amethyst began, and Pearl clapped a hand over Amethyst's mouth.

"It's a bit difficult to explain," Pearl said, almost panicking, and Amethyst yanked her hand away.

"It's not bad if she knows now!" Amethyst yelled at Pearl. "I mean, if she really sticks around Steven for very long..."

"Amethyst! I already told you..." Pearl began, but one sidelong glance at Connie told her that she and Amethyst should stop arguing.

"Um," Connie said, breaking a long silence, "What do you guys like to do for fun? Do you like music?"

"I love music," Amethyst murmured with a big smile. She twirled a stray drumstick which she had picked up in one of her hands. "I really love music..."

"Steven has tried to introduce to those 'arcade' games, and also those theme park rides, but I never really understood the point of them," Pearl said with a shrug. She glanced up at the roof. "I mean, I really don't understand how humans do all those things for fun."

"Do you like swimming in the ocean?"

Pearl and Amethyst both paused, and glanced down at Connie.

"Um," Pearl stuttered.

"We don't really swim often. Not for fun, anyway," Amethyst said.

"Do you collect anything? Like postcards? Or bubblegum?"

"I have collected swords over the past few hundred years," Pearl volunteered.

"What's bubblegum?" Amethyst asked, sounding slightly disgusted by the compound word.

Connie crossed her arms, glancing the gems up and down.

"Do you ever see any other gems? Do you have friends besides each other, and Garnet and Steven?"

Pearl blinked back tears at the thought of what Connie had said, but Amethyst kept her gaze steady.

"We knew Steven's mom for a long time," Amethyst said, looking away. "But that's in the past."

Connie nodded, slowly and solemnly, and remained silent when she realized that she had crossed a line.

This time, Pearl was the first to speak up.

"Hey, Connie?" she asked, smiling gently.

"Yes, Pearl?" Connie answered, looking up at the small gem.

"Would you like some hot chocolate?"

Connie simply nodded. Pearl disappeared into the kitchen, while Amethyst sat down beside the girl.

"So," Amethyst said delicately, looking over at the abashed young girl, and swinging her feet back and forth. "You have asked us a few questions, so now its our turn. That way, it's a fair trade-off."

"I see," Connie said delicately, locking eyes with Amethyst. "What did you want to know?"

* * *

"Garnet! That was so cool!" Steven shouted.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," Garnet said with a cool smile. She looked up toward the temple. "Amethyst isn't drumming. She was just setting up to practice when we left. I wonder what's happened." Unconcernedly, the bigger gem calmly walked up the steps to try and opened the door.

"So, what is this 'school,' that you speak of?" Amethyst asked, leaning forward to hear Connie's response.

Connie took a long sip of cocoa, and grinned back at Amethyst. "It's where humans go to learn things, like math, and reading, and science..."

"Fascinating," Pearl said from where she sat up at the top of the stairs. "Humans chose to learn things as a collective group rather than individually? That is quite a socially complex system...What type of environmental pressures are humans placed under in order to reach peak cognitive function?"

"I...have no idea what you mean," Connie said glumly, staring at Pearl.

"Cut the brainy talk," Amethyst said irritably. "It's obnoxious.

"We're back," Garnet announced, Steven hopped past her and landing on the couch beside Connie. "How are things?"

"Hey Connie!" Steven shouted eagerly. "Want to go down to the beach? Or to the boardwalk?"

"Sure!" Connie answered easily. She turned toward Pearl and Amethyst. "I must be going now," she said calmly, getting up and walking out the door with Steven. "Take care!"

Garnet watched the two children leave, and turned back toward her teammates.

"You didn't keep any secrets from her about Steven, did you?" she asked calmly.

"No," Amethyst answered plainly, and in fact truthfully. "But there wasn't much to be said just yet."

"Good," Garnet said. "What were you guys doing with her all this time?"

"Answering questions," Pearl said exasperatedly, tugging at her own hair. "Humans are so full of them..."

"Weird," Garnet agreed with a nod.

* * *

**After seeing "Mirror Gem" and "Ocean Gem," my storyline for my upcoming fic on Garnet just about exploded, and I know I'm heading in the right direction with that =)**

**This is fantastic! An obvious and very special thanks to Rebecca Sugar for creating such a wonderful show. =D *nerd gasp* this is so cool...**

**I'm really excited now, and I also really need to pick up the pace on "Rose Pedals and Moss Mounds."**

**Thank you all so much!**


	7. Aftermath

**Technically, this idea was commissioned by Secrets4theunderground. **

**I'm going through the rest of the requests, and I have all of them written down. So in case anyone is waiting to be answered, you should know that after seeing "Mirror Gem" and "Ocean Gem," I really had to get this out of my system. I honestly couldn't go without writing something about it much longer. =) **

* * *

Amethyst gently carried a sleepy Steven on her back as the three crystal gems tiptoed into the house. For the last twenty-four hours, the Crystal Gems' youngest member had done the impossible: he released an evil gem from its prison, befriended it, sent it skyward, and brought the ocean back to Beach City. Not only did he accomplish all of these things, but in the process managed to purposefully summon his weapon for the first time.

The moonlight shone through the windows of Steven's room at the top of the stairs, and Amethyst slowly creeped to Steven's bed, haphazardly managing to lay the young gem down so that he was sleeping peacefully.

Garnet stared at the top of the stairs, looking disdainfully stoic. Pearl, blissful for having had a wonderful day at the human's first day of summer celebrations, had to contain a gasp of shock when she turned around to see Garnet looking bitterly at the floor. She walked to her door to the inner temple, remaining even more silent than normal after such an eventful day.

Pearl glanced once at the sleeping Steven, with Amethyst now settled into the bed beside him because he would not let go of her, and then glanced back at Garnet, cocking her head to one side. Garnet's gem's lit up, and her door began to slide open.

"Garnet," Pearl hissed quietly. "Wait a moment, please."

Garnet stopped, freezing where she stood, with her feet stiffly planted on the ground. The temple door shifted closed.

Pearl light-footedly walked toward Garnet, a small smile coming across her face.

"Would you like to come soak your feet?"

The bigger gem didn't respond, but Pearl knew from Garnet's rigid stance that she should proceed. Pearl walked toward her door of the temple, dancing slightly (but quietly, so to not wake the other two gems), and watched her door glide open. Beckoning for Garnet to follow, and not feeling entirely dignified in doing so, Pearl wondered into her room.

* * *

The waterfall beneath Pearl's lake crashed to the lower part of the temple with a peaceful loudness, and serene light reflected off of the calm water. The pacific fountains continued to fruitfully gush and foam over the spring, tranquilly filling the humid room with the smell of salt water. Paper lanterns glided over the surface of the water, dimly lighting up the room as mist rose off of the surface.

Garnet calmly advanced past Pearl into the temple room, sat down by the pool's edge, and started to remove her boats. Pearl raised one hand to face level, opening her mouth to speak, but thought better of it. In all the time she had known Garnet, she had seen the older gem remove her shoes very few times at most.

"So," Pearl ambled over, hands behind her back, trying to make conversation. "Wild day, right, Garnet? I made sure that Greg was taken care of; I saw him to the hospital to have his leg fixed. Isn't it strange how humans need to wear those braces to fix themselves?"

Garnet said absolutely nothing. She merely finished removing her boots, and tentatively dipped her feet in the water. Pearl was even more amazed to see that the gem didn't shiver.

So they sat in silence for a few moments, and Pearl silently electing also to dunk her feet into the water as she sat down right beside her companion. It was strange, this human tactic of relieving stress, but Pearl always thought that watching the shifting water, in all of its exquisite beauty, was quite calming.

After several moments of silence, Garnet finally sighed out loud, ready to speak.

"He let her out."

Pearl's head shot up from where she had been leaning over to watch the water's changing surface.

"I suppose that's true," Pearl agreed, sounding only slightly nervous. "What does this mean for us?"

"We'll wait and see," Garnet said, and despite the gem's calm demeanor, Pearl could note hints of anxiety in Garnet's voice that would take years of experience to recognize.

"Then why are you worrying about it now?"

Garnet looked away from Pearl, down at the water, and Pearl watched as Garnet's face contorted into a similar look of anger that she had given to Steven earlier that night.

The bigger gem sat up, yanked off her glasses, and violently flung them across the room, watching without satisfaction as they smacked the surface of the water and disappeared into oblivion. Pearl flinched away, refusing to look up at Garnet.

The bigger gem slowly seemed to calm down as the ripples from the splash made by her glasses finally lapped against her legs. Garnet sighed, sounding exasperated, and leaned back so that her back rested on the marble floor, but her feet were still dunked in the water.

Pearl glanced down at Garnet as the bigger gem closed her eyes.

"Are you still mad at Steven?"

Garnet said nothing.

"You know...that he didn't mean it."

Garnet shook her head.

"He doesn't understand quite yet. Neither did Lapis, at the time," she murmured quietly, sounding composed.

"Are you alright?"

Garnet moved her hand over her face, and a new pair of glasses appeared over her eyes.

"Hm?"

Pearl crossed her arms, and raised a single eyebrow.

"You know exactly what I mean. You sound almost comatose when you're this relaxed."

Pearl knew it was progress when Garnet actually chuckled at the last statement.

"You know what's coming. Lapis; she's going to return with reinforcements. What are we going to do then?" Pearl asked.

"Pearl," Garnet said, sitting up and turning toward the other gem. "You know what's already going to happen, for the most part."

"We'll stand our ground...?"

"Until there is no one left standing, or nothing left to stand for."

* * *

**I'm thinking of a fic actually to include lapis in as part of a back story, but the problem is that the title I would chose would be one that I have heard already. **

**It's a new idea. Garnet fic must come first. **

**To clarify, I'm not ignoring the Lapis incident. You could say quite the opposite, in fact, as I am very deliberately keeping myself from writing about it too much. I usually don't oneshot something that is a big backstory that can go really in depth. ;)**

**Thank you all for the wonderful support =)**


	8. The Fall Festival

**This idea was commissioned by DemonoftheSilverStars. Thanks so much for the suggestion, man.**

**I almost included a parade, but that would have made it a bit long winded. Guess that new idea may wait a little while =)**

* * *

"I don't get what's supposed to be so attractive about this...food."

"Aw, Peeeaaarl, you should at least try it!" Steven cheered, holding out a plate of funnel cake. Pearl stared down at the powdered, oily bread with distaste, nervously backing behind Garnet.

"It's okay, Steven," she laughed timidly. "Maybe next time..."

"But the Fall Festival only happens once a year!" Steven exclaimed, waving his arms. "Come on, Pearl. Please?"

Garnet remained stiffly in place as Pearl stepped away from the bigger gem for a moment, leaning toward Steven rather than stepping any closer. Carefully and concisely, Pearl reached out with on hand, pinched a minuscule piece of heavily-powdered funnel cake between two fingers, and slowly lifted it to her mouth.

"Steven," Pearl asked with a nervous smile, "Isn't this the kind of food that humans die from? You know, with all the oil?"

"Pearl, I wouldn't let you try if I didn't know it was safe," Steven said matter-of-factly, planting his feet in the sand. Pearl nodded once and lifted the strand of funnel cake to her mouth, her face brightening as she tasted it for the first time.

"This is delicious!"

"I _told_ you so."

"Well, can you blame me for being nervous when it was first suggested by Amethyst that I should try this?"

* * *

The Fall Festival came to the Boardwalk of Beach Town only once a year. Steven and his father had usually gone in years' past and would spend the entire day together when it came to town, but since Greg was held up at the car wash today, the gems had decided to bring Steven to the Boardwalk rather than let him sulk around the house.

"Look at that!" Steven yelled excitedly, pointing with one hand while his other hand seemed magnetically locked to the side of his head.

Garnet glanced upward where her student was pointing and saw one of the Funland roller coasters that had been newly commissioned. She shrugged, glancing down at her two other teammates.

"Would either of you like to go with Steven, or shall I?" Garnet asked quietly.

Pearl shivered, staring at the roller coaster with disdain, and shook her head. "Humans managed to create entertainment that looks more dangerous than half of the missions that we go on," she said uncertainly. "You take this one, Garnet."

Amethyst cocked her head watching with widened eyes as the carts, filled with humans, suddenly shot out of a long tunnel and over a loop before a big grin managed to stretch across her face.

"Garnet, this isn't just for you and Steven. _It is our destiny to ride this ride."_

"What-!? Garnet, please, stop her!" Pearl was yelling as Amethyst grabbed her wrist and began to pull her toward the waiting line.

"Why not? I can't get in the of destiny," Garnet shrugged. She looked down to see Steven grinning back up at her.

"You're going to love this ride, Garnet! I heard that there is even a story to it." Steven was practically skipping toward the ride as Garnet walked calmly beside him.

"Cool," she said, smiling ever-so-slightly.

The roller coaster itself was a new, permanent structure to Funland: the tracks wrapped haphazardly over large, fake mountains, with long, steep drops into billboards of trees. Low-budget or not, most of the residents enjoyed the new ride, especially when the story of the ride was about hunting (and escaping from) Bigfoot.

After maybe twenty minutes of waiting in line, the gems stepped forward and were strapped into a four-person set of of two carts, with Steven eagerly bouncing in his seat beside Garnet at the front cart, and Pearl glancing nervously at an over-excited Amethyst in the back.

The ride took off with a sharp jolt as it slowly began to climb up its first hill, and then took off at high speed through the ride.

"AHHH!" Steven yelled, raising his arms as the cart bumped and swayed at high speed. Garnet remained perfectly motionless, but wasn't deaf to Amethyst's shouting in excitement that contrasted Pearl's screaming in terror.

The roller coaster slowed down as it passed the main attraction of the ride, a large, animatronic Bigfoot that stomped and swayed in place. Steam poured out of his nostrils as he leaned over toward Steven's seat and let out a fake roar.

"Oh no," Steven shouted, grinning. "Bigfoot!"

"I bet he wants a snack," Amethyst laughed.

Part of Garnet's mouth curved to show a light, but serious look of determination as she summoned a single gauntlet. When the animatronic Bigfoot leaned in again, she punched it so that its head flew at high speed in the opposite direction.

"I did it," she declared stoically. "The point was to hunt him down and not get eaten, wasn't it?"

Steven and Amethyst both stared at Garnet in wide-eyed shock as the ride took off again. Pearl was beyond having the ability to realize what had just happened.

* * *

"Well, that was fun," Steven said happily, albeit a little bit skittishly as his thoughts drifted back to what Mr. Smile's reaction might be when he figured out what happened to Bigfoot.

"Where to next?" Amethyst called.

Pearl shook her head. "Let's just do something calm...and relaxing..."

"Like the Tunnel of Love?" Amethyst mocked playfully.

"...No," Pearl stated in the same calm tone she had used when she told Greg, Sadie, and Lars that she had not wanted to work out with them on the beach. "That sounds like a terrible idea."

"How about the funhouse?" Steven asked, pointing over to a large billboard that hid a house of mirrors, tunnels, and slides.

"Sounds fun!" Amethyst yelled, grinning and grabbing Steven's wrist.

"We'll...sit this one out," Pearl said, looking Garnet up and down. "I'd rather not walk into another ride or anything for awhile..."

"Suit yourself!" Steven hollered, running with Amethyst into the house of mirrors.

* * *

"The door! It's in this one!"

"Steven? Where are y-OW...Just a sec!" Amethyst called back.

Steven laughed as he turned, looking at his reflection from all sides in a long, distortion mirror. "Amethyst! Look at this!"

"Whoa..." Amethyst glanced herself up and down in the mirror, noting how it enlarged her face and legs, but shrank at her body, kind of like an hourglass.

"Come on, let's go!"

And after running into several more mirrors, down slides, and through a few more doors, they found their way out of the house.

* * *

"This...was actually pretty fun," Amethyst commented from where she sat in the grass. She took another bite out of her caramel apple, chewing vigorously.

"Yeah, this is normal," Steven said coolly. "You should see it when they bust out the super fun slide. It's big and yellow, and usually really fun."

"Isn't that kind of stuff for little kids?" Pearl asked, looking up.

"Shhh, it's starting," Garnet whispered. Steven, Pearl, and Amethyst all looked up in time to see the first of the fireworks begin to go off. "This was a good idea, Steven. Maybe tell us when this happens again next year?"

"Glad to," Steven said, smiling and crossing his arms as he watched the fireworks continue, happily sitting beside his friends.

* * *

**Ah, finally got this one written up!**

**I'm now on fall break, trying to figure a few things out, but I'm nervous about all of the college stuff I'm going to have to be dealing with...**

**Anyway, I was really nervous last week with band, and our first competition was last saturday...we got a rating of 'Good'. A score of 58...two points away from qualifying for the State Competition...*busts out drum pad* They ain't stopping me next week! XD**

**I do not own Steven Universe (let's pretend that this message is on all the drabbles thus far), and I do not own the ride _Expedition Everest_ in Walt Disney World in Florida, which believe it or not inspired the cheap roller coaster of the festival. Don't read into that too deeply.**

**Thanks for all the wonderful support! Keep it going, guys! =) comments, concerns, and all that stuff is appreciated. =D**


	9. On a Clear Day

**Okay, this fun was kind of fun write =)**

**Inspired by, and named after the song "On a Clear Day" which was composed by Joe Hisaishi for the movie "Kiki's Delivery Service." I don't own any of those things =)**

**Be sure to give the song a listen; I think it really captures the tone of them flying together =)**

* * *

Greg let out an slightly-stifled yawn, leaning over where he stood. He instead of what later became his normal jean shorts, he was wearing full length jeans, and his skin was not sunburned. He still had a full head of hair, as at this time he was still a young man.

The sun was going to set soon, casting a serene, almost lazy sort of light over Beach City. Greg nodded when people walked by his van, looking in his direction and smiling.

"There you are! Greg, I thought that we were supposed to meet up an hour ago?"

Greg turned around in slight shock when he heard a voice, and felt his breath leave him when he looked up to see Rose Quartz standing only a few feet away.

"Rose," he murmured tiredly. "I'm sorry...I don't know where the time went. Things got busy, and after last night...that show took a lot out of me..."

Rose smiled light-heartedly, raising a single hand.

"Say no more. You look like you could use some time away from the confusion."

"Wait! Rose, I have a surprise for you. Come on, you need to follow me..." Greg said, raising both of his hands.

"Um, alright," Rose Quartz said uncertainly. "Where to?"

* * *

"This is my parents' old place," Greg said as he opened a fence beside a house and walked toward a large shed in the back. "They're both pilots, and they used to live by here. You see, they wanted me to become one also, but...I like music more."

Rose smiled. "I like that about you. Music is the food of love...isn't it?"

"Huh? I don't think I've ever heard that. Good explanation, though," Greg said.

Rose blushed a very light shade of pink, her gaze dropping toward the floor as she murmured, "That's just something that I've heard once."

Greg grinned. "So, here's what I have to show you..." he said, unlatching a white shed and sliding the door open. Rose walked a little closer to the white shed, noticing that the paint was peeling off of the outside, and peered inside the structure to see a large object under a tarp.

"What is it?" Rose asked, staring at it inquisitively.

Greg took the tarp with both hands, and yanked at it roughly before it finally yielded the structure underneath.

"It's a plane!" Greg shouted brightly. It was a small, old plane, with the capacity for two passengers, as well as an archaic-looking propeller. The wings were slightly bent, but not damaged beyond their ability to soar. The hull of the plane had a fresh coat of pink paint over it. Her favorite color.

Rose smiled. "Greg, this is perfect!...I've never been flying before."

"Well," Greg said quietly, looking up towards the ceiling. "It's been awhile since I've flown, but my piloting license hasn't expired yet, so..."

"'License'?"

"Oh! Humans must be given...privileges, I guess...which say that they can do things, like fly. You see, they have to test you to make sure that you know how to do these things, or it could be dangerous. My parents made me get certified awhile ago, just before I decided instead to become a traveling musician."

"I see," Rose said, turning back toward the plane. "So how do you fly this thing?"

* * *

"Keep your goggles on while we are in the air!" Greg was shouting over to where Rose was sitting, in the passenger side of the plane. He had gotten out to turn the plane's propeller before removing the wheel brakes.

Rose clutched the scarf that Greg had given her, and tightened the goggles over her eyes. Both she and Greg had managed to dig up brown flight suits out of one of the crates in the shed.

Greg stepped away from the propeller as it really began to spin, quickly hopping into the the pilot's seat of the small plane as it picked up speed and began to lift off of the ground. Barely managing to clear the fence that they had walked through about an hour earlier, the plane managed to finally take off above the trees, thanks to Greg's piloting.

Rose stared out at the into the air as the sky opened up before her. The sun was only just setting, and was casting beautiful shades of pink and orange over the clouds.

"Greg!" Rose shouted over the roar of the wind. "This is beautiful! Look at the sunset!"

"Yeah, I'm having fun too!" Greg shouted back. "Did you see the sunset? It's beautiful!"

Rose laughed out loud, smiling as she felt the wind rush through her long hair. Clouds lazily floated past them, as though the plane were merely suspended in the air as the earth moved. She looked down at Beach City (they were still flying fairly low for a plane) and watched the waves silently crashing onto the beach. The plane swung low and seemed to gently rock in the air, serenely casting a small shadow onto the ground one hundred feet below them. Some people looked up, as they passed overhead, and Rose waved before she would turn back and continue to take in the wonder that was around her. It was as if time had paused at the perfect moment.

Birds continued to fly by, and the air like misted salt water. Rose felt herself smile as wind whistled under the wings of the small plane, and looked down to see the ocean sparkling back at her.

"There's the temple!" she shouted, a bit more loudly this time as she pointed to the far cliff where the gems resided. "Can you land on the beach?!"

"I'll try!" Greg shouted back, bringing the plane a little bit lower. Rose looked over and thought she saw a wing wobble slightly.

"Um, Greg?" Rose asked, watching as one of the wings wobbled in place. "Are you sure this thing is safe?"

"Totally! Let's go, the beach is down there!"

The plane ascended at a slightly more rapid pace, bound for the beach as it swerved downward. That was when about half the wing fell away and the plane began to spin.

"Greg!"

"I see it! Hang on!"

The small plane roughly landed and rolled, skipping up and down in the sand as it threatened to take back into the sky. Rose undid her seat belt, as did Greg.

"Do we jump?" Rose shouted.

"Jump now! The sand is right there!" Greg shouted back.

Rose and Greg jumped out of the seats of the plane as it skipped back into the air and lightly moved over the ocean before it crashed into the waves and burst into flames. Rose stumbled into the sand, kicking up much dust from where she landed beside Greg.

When the dust settled, Rose cocked her head to one side, and then looked over at Greg. Greg was staring out at the ruins of the plane as they sank into the sea maybe thirty feet away.

"We just crashed a plane into the ocean," Greg stated out loud, and looked over at Rose. "We just crashed a plane into the ocean!" he laughed.

He and Rose both fell onto the sand laughing.

"Greg," Rose asked, wiping away a tear as she stifled her laughter.

"Yeah, Rose?"

"When do we get to do that again?"

* * *

**Alright, because I'm getting so many requests for a fusion gem chapter, I'll try to make that one of the next ones =)**

**I can't explain where (it may have been on the wiki), I saw a picture of what looked like either Greg's parents, or maybe even Greg and Rose dressed like they were about to go flying. That also inspired this chapter. **

**Plus you know that Greg would totally crash a plane into the ocean. =D**


	10. Blue Zirconium

"Alright," Pearl said. "If you're going to do this properly, then you're going to need to feel your own rhythm after you bow."

"I see," Steven said, cocking his head to one side.

They stood on the head of the temple that looked out over the beach, a few feet of stone ground in between them. It was clear, sunny day; great for training.

"Now, you bow to your partner," Pearl instructed, gracefully leaning over as Steven hastened into a quick bow to Pearl.

"Synchronize..." Steven said, closing his eyes, and beginning to dance. He hopped around with his arms out, trying to look and feel graceful, but in reality looking a little bit dorky as his eyes half-closed and he continued to make fluid, almost random movements.

Pearl fell into her usual ballet step, but upon the sound of hearing Steven's feet roughly strike at the stone, she opened her eyes just enough to peer down at him. It took everything she had to stifle her laughter.

Steven kept dancing, and at one point, Pearl could no longer contain her laughter. Her hand fell away from her mouth as she burst out chortling, bent over so that she was almost lying on the stone floor. Steven's eyes popped open, he froze in place, and then glanced down at Pearl, completely stoic.

"Pearl? What's wrong?"

Pearl was laughing so hard that she was crying.

"It's...nothing, Steven. Your dancing is just really erratic...and also formless. You might need more practice before we can really fuse."

"But I thought that you said that I really just needed to 'feel it,'" Steven said, lowering his arms.

"You do have to feel it," Pearl said with a smile, standing upright. "But you also have a partner. Realize that there is a full rhythm to abide by."

"I...see," Steven sighed, his face falling and facing the ground.

Pearl let a small smile cross her face. "Do you want to try again?" she asked gently.

Steven despondently shrugged. "I don't know if I can do it right...I mean, when I dance, people usually laugh, but now it's like I can't switch it off."

"We have a mission," Amethyst said. Pearl turned to the source of the voice and saw her teammate just peering over the front of the statue head, still climbing up its face. "Garnet wants us to be down at the warp pad in five. That is, if Steven doesn't need you for too much longer...?"

Pearl turned and looked down at Steven. "Will you be alright on your own?"

Steven looked down at the ground, shuffling his feet and his hands behind his back.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Alright! Amethyst, did Garnet say where were headed?"

* * *

"Let's go. A monster has appeared at the top of the Sky Spire; anyone climbing those mountains is in danger."

"Um, Garnet, could you hang on for a moment?"

"Amethyst, _let's go. _This can't wait," Garnet continued stoically, crossing her arms. Pearl stepped onto the warp pad a moment later, standing beside Garnet as Amethyst rushed over and Steven began to walk up the stairs.

"Stop. You too, Steven," Garnet said, beckoning with her head for him to walk over.

"Really?" Steven asked. The gems paused for a moment when they realized that he actually sounded depressed. "I don't know."

"Aw, come on, Steven! There are some great places to slide, and to jump from, and..." Amethyst began, and shook her head.

Garnet raised one eyebrow. "This trip could be good for your training."

Pearl looked down at the floor, and smiled meekly. "Steven? Why don't you come with us?"

Steven still frowned, trying really hard not to relent, before he finally murmured an 'okay.' He stepped onto the warp pad with the other gems before light erupted from the floor beneath them, and they left the temple.

* * *

"Hey! Steven! You wanna see something cool?"

"It's alright, Amethyst."

Steven had remained rather despondent as he walked beside the three crystal gems, his arms crossed and his head hung low. Periodically, Amethyst turned to watch as he would murmur underneath his breath, his arms unfolding long enough to wave in the air for one rhythmic, yet slightly frantic moment before they were re-crossed across Steven's chest.

As the gems trekked up the mountain, Amethyst felt her gaze drift around the scene of the stairs ahead of them. Dark moss patches ran over parts of the stairs in an almost relaxing sort of tone, much juxtaposed to the light blue sky and white stone steps. Relatively few trees existed at this altitude due to the decline in oxygen; Amethyst turned back for a moment to see Steven ambling along behind the other three gems, huffing a bit more than normal.

She hung back for a moment, and watched Pearl and Garnet kept moving forward. Garnet gave a side-glance back at Amethyst for a moment, slowing her own step for a moment. When the smaller gem nodded back, both of the taller gems continued up the path until they were a good distance away from Amethyst and Steven.

"So..." Amethyst began, crossing her own arms as she grinned, walking in step with Steven. "What's got you down?"

When Steven mumbled something inaudible under his breath in response to her question, and Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"I can't hear you!" she sing-songed cheerfully, but careful not obnoxiously loud.

"Pearl won't fuse with me because I dance badly," Steven said, disappointed. "I'm too hard to sync with."

"...Is that all?" Amethyst asked seriously. She cocked her head to one side. Both of the gems stopped walking, and when Steven nodded back at her, Amethyst continued.

"Honestly, Steven, I never thought that Pearl had much of a sense of rhythm. Really, all that ballet stuff? That only works if you're dancing with an orchestra."

Steven cracked a small smile, which encouraged Amethyst to continue speaking.

"If you are hard for her to sync with, then that is _her_ problem, not yours," Amethyst said, turning and beginning to walk again. "She has trouble syncing with me, but that's because I dance the way I want to. And I have _fun_. Garnet can fuse with me without any trouble. So don't let Pearl get you down, okay? I see you dance all the time, and it's not like you dance badly."

Steven turned and faced Amethyst. "Really?"

"Yeah. You dance like you're being electrocuted, but at least you have fun."

This actually pulled a laugh out of the younger gem, but it stopped abruptly for a moment, and Steven turned to face Amethyst.

"But what if I'm never able to synchronize with another gem?"

Amethyst pondered this for a moment, and smiled. "Do you want me to teach you?"

Steven's eyes brightened into stars, and he nodded his affirmation excitedly. A few moments later, both of the gems were standing, alone, on one of the Sky Spire's awnings.

"Now," Amethyst said, watching as Steven closed his eyes, and both of their gems started to glow. "You gotta feel it. Just let it come to you..."

* * *

"Garnet!" Pearl yelled, her fingers slipping off of the edge.

"Hang on a moment!" Garnet yelled back roughly, not turning away from the monster as she equipped her gauntlets. "Just hang in there. This will only-"

Pearl heard what sounded like a rough clang of metal as the giant lizard monster whipped its tail around, and Pearl watched as Garnet flew several yards away from the monster, having been struck due to the distraction of Pearl's pleading for help.

Pearl turned back and stared in horror as the the lizard came close to her, hissing as her fingers kept sliding from the edge of the cliff.

"Garnet!"

Pearl squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation for the blow from the lizard that would give to send her tumbling off of the cliff side.

Rather then a blow to her hand, Pearl's eyes snapped open when she heard a loud 'thung', and heard a low roar elicit from the lizard monster. Before she got a good look at what was happening, she felt a strong hand grasp her wrist, pulling her up and over the surface of the cliff before planting her feet firmly on the ground beside where she had been dangling.

Pearl looked up to see a light blue-skinned gem with wildly curly, dark blue hair, a small nose, angular chin, and chubby lips. She stood at maybe 3/4's of Opal's height, but with less muscular tone despite her abnormal strength. She wore white sandals that twisted and extended up her legs beneath black capri pants and white shirt with a star cut-out at the stomach, where Steven's gem would normally appear, and a star-shaped neckline that was cut just low enough to show Amethyst's gem.

The lizard monster reeled, whipping its head back around to face the blue gem, and snarling. Out of its two gems, the blue fusion gem pulled a whip and a shield, combining them into a studded mace. Pearl watched in awe as the blue gem ran forward at a proud speed and agilely struck down the monster with one whip of its mace. When the lizard evaporated, and only a small, pink gem remained in its place, the blue crystal gem turned around to face Pearl, and smiled.

"Whoa..." Pearl murmured softly. She jumped at the sound of a soft thud beside her, and turned to notice that Garnet had rejoined them, but remained in ever-knowing silence as she looked over at the blue gem, trying not to smile.

"Who are you?" Pearl asked curiously, almost dubiously.

The stocky, blue crystal gem gave Pearl a hefty smile.

"Zircon," she answered mightily.

Now Garnet allowed herself to smile. "Well done," she complimented, looking the taller gem up and down.

"Steven fused," Pearl said softly, allowing herself to smile.

"Ugh," Zircon sighed, dropping her weapon and clutching her head for a moment. "Trying to focus. Don't remind me of how you treated me earlier."

"I'm sorry," Pearl said to Zircon. "I never meant to discourage you."

"It's fine," Zircon sighed. "Just let me be myself. Garnet, have you recovered the gem?"

"Yes," Garnet said simply. "You two can split up, and we can return home now. Excellent work."

Zircon shifted her head to one side, and gave the other two gems an honest smile.

"What is it?" Pearl asked, looking the bigger gem up and down nervously.

"I'll split up a little later, I promise," the gem said politely, "But I never got to feel what it would be like to be me. I'd like to stay like this way a little longer, please. But don't let me interfere with what you have planned."

Garnet smiled, and stopped Pearl from shouting protest.

"Of course," the lead gem said gently. Zircon looked away shyly for a moment. "What is it?"

"I'm also not entirely sure how to split up," Zircon said sheepishly, scratching the back of her head with a small laugh.

* * *

**Sorry for the long hiatus, guys! Here's a slightly-longer-than-normal chapter. **

**When I'm not busy with school, I'm busy worrying about...This is getting to be tough! Way too much to be done, and so little time. And then procrastinating only makes that worse...ugh. **

**Anywhoozles, because I waited so long to post a drabble, the next regularly scheduled request is actually being delayed to answer the very first request I received: **

**We need a good holiday drabble, and it's almost Halloween. I was thinking of splitting it into two parts. **

**Any wonderful family traditions (besides trick or treating) that you guys loved about halloween that you would love to see here?**


	11. The Haunted House, Part 1

**This drabble is both commissioned by and _specially dedicated to Spacewonder368. _Spacewonder, thank you so much for all of the encouragement that you give to so many people on this archive =) I really hope that you enjoy this drabble =)**

* * *

"Um, Steven...What are you doing?"

"Amethyst! Don't touch that!"

Amethyst cocked a single eyebrow at Steven, and slowly lowered the plastic spider that she had picked up a moment earlier.

It was only midday, and the gems had been sitting in the house of the temple, spread out across the couch as they discussed mission tactics ("We should probably head for the forest, next," Pearl had been saying), when Steven walked in carrying a large, cardboard box. And when Amethyst opened it up, there was a plastic spider inside.

Pearl cringed as she looked at the box that Steven set down, drawing a hand close to her forehead and drawing a spear out of her gem a moment later.

"What is that stuff?" Pearl asked, glancing down at the box.

"Halloween decorations," Steven stated plainly, and shrugged. He thought back for a moment, and smiled. "My dad handed them too me when I mentioned wanting to decorate the temple this year. Normally, we decorate the car wash, but since he is ill, I just thought that I would hang them in my room. It's too bad that we won't get to enjoy Halloween together this year..."

"I...see," Pearl said slowly, sharing a glance with a grinning Amethyst and ever-quiet Garnet. "So...Halloween...that's that holiday that humans celebrate each year, isn't it? The one with all of the food..."

Steven turned around to face Pearl, flabbergasted, and a look of absolute shock rocking his face. "That's Thanksgiving! You guys don't know what Halloween is?!" he gasped.

"So...no food?" Amethyst asked quietly. Garnet turned to Amethyst and slowly shook her head.

"...So," Pearl said, beginning to smile and showing hints of intrigue. "What is Hallo-ween, then?"

Steven scratched his chin, glancing at the corner of the room without turning his head. Being loudly pensive as he hummed and thought and scratched his chin, Steven finally looked up at the gems.

"It's a holiday...where humans try to scare each other," he explained didactically. "And kids are given candy for going house to house and saying 'Trick or Treat!' and stuff. Connie invited me to go trick-or-treating this year, but I thought that maybe we could try to decorate the temple to make it spooky, and then invite people to come and see."

"Huh," Pearl said, a smile slowly forming on her face. "You want to make this place scary? Oh, we can be plenty scary!"

As Pearl proceeded to try and make her scariest face (Steven thought that it would maybe work on preschoolers), Garnet glanced down and cocked her head to one side.

"Are you sure you want to try this?" she asked stoically, yet with the gentle tone of a mentor.

"What's the matter, Garnet? You **_scared_**?" Amethyst laughed. _  
_

Garnet looked the smaller gem up and down for a moment, and very calmly answered 'no.'

"Alright, so, let's turn the temple scary! It'll make a great haunted house!" Steven yelled excitedly.

* * *

"Don't hold anything back!" Garnet yelled from her perch near the roof.

"I never do!" Amethyst yelled back with exhilaration as she flung black and orange streamers, fake cobwebs lined with spiders, and black and white curtains over the walls that Garnet would catch and align. Pearl sat in the the kitchen, her spear ready, as she carved intricate lanterns and faces, designs, and shapes out of at least a hundred different pumpkins. One had a carving of a face. One had a carving of a castle. And at least four of them had a carving that was the silhouette of each of the crystal gems.

"Pearl," Steven said, walking into the kitchen and gasping at her progress. His eyes drifted into the shape of stars as his gaze drifted over the jock-o-lanterns. "This is incredible..."

"Oh!" Pearl said, looking up. Her cloths were covered in orange pumpkin mesh, a sure sign of hard work. "Well, one does try their best..."

"Heads up!" Amethyst yelled gruffly from the other room over, and Steven felt something sharp hit the back of his head.

"Ow," he murmured, leaning forwards.

"Steven!" Pearl yelled, leaning forward to make sure that he did not hit his head on the counter. "Amethyst, why did you throw that plastic spider?!"

"I was trying to scare you," Amethyst shrugged. "Steven, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Steven said slowly.

Garnet leapt down from her perch, and stood up straight. "I think now's a good time to take a break," she said quietly to Amethyst.

"I'll say," Pearl muttered. Amethyst glared back at her.

"Stop! It's okay, Amethyst; I was just about to ask you to go out and get candy to pass out to anyone who may come by," Steven said, drawing his hand away from the back of his head and then raising both of his hands to quell the impending argument.

Amethyst smiled, seeming to calm down a little bit. "What kind of candy?"

"They are selling lots of candy at the Big Donut at the moment," Steven said. He drew a bit of money out his pocket. "This should be enough. Tell Lars and Sadie about the haunted house while you are over there, okay?"

"Alright, Steven," Amethyst shrugged, and she left the temple.

After a few moments of silence, Garnet finally spoke up.

"I think we should get back to work. About what time do these things start anyway, Steven?"

"Usually at night. And everything is coming along so nicely...People are gonna be so scared!"

Pearl glanced around, at the cute jack-o-lanterns, and the streamers, the curtains, and the face spiders, and smiled calmly.

"I guess so," Pearl said. "But scaring people isn't all that matters on this holiday, is it?"

"Well, I don't think that exists for much else," Steven answered.

Pearl glanced around the room once more before locking eyes with Garnet for a moment, and then turning and nodding nervously at Steven.

* * *

Sadie looked up from the register as the bell tone rang and Amethyst walked through the door of the Big Donut, money in hand.

"I need candy," the gem demanded kindly, placing the money on the counter.

"Um," Sadie answered, looking slightly confused, "Right..."

She hauled a big bag of Halloween candy out from under the shelf, and passed it to Amethyst.

"So, what do you need this for?"

"Steven turning the temple into a haunted house. He asked me to make sure you and your friend would come," Amethyst said plainly, taking the bag off of the counter and holding it casually under one arm.

"Um, could you excuse me for one second?" Sadie asked, raising a hand to shoulder level.

When Amethyst nodded, Sadie turned and poked her head around the hall leading to the back of the store.

"Lars! Whatever plans you have for tonight, cancel them! You owe me for covering for you!"

"Aw, but Sa-die..." Amethyst heard.

"We're going to a haunted house!"

"Okay, now your talking!"

Sadie turned back around to face Amethyst, smiling. "We'll be there," she said, and with that dismissal, Amethyst nonchalantly walked out of the store and back up to the temple.

* * *

In the very heart of the temple, where all the monster gems had been bubbled, there was absolute silence. And then, a small scrapping sound came from the far right edge of the room.

Nobody was present, and nobody heard as one of the glass-like bubbles drifted and began to scrap against the stone wall, threatening the integrity of it's in-air suspension. The bubble scrapped up against the wall again, eliciting a crisp sound similar to that of glass being scratched, until finally, the bubble that contained the gem of the worm monster that Steven and Connie once fought burst open, and the gem clatter to the ground with a loud 'chink' before it began to glow.

**End of Part One**

* * *

**Okay, first and foremost, sorry this is out *after* Halloween. It was planned to come out before that, and then I was busy, and when I wasn't busy, I was busy being lazy =)**

**School work is crazy, and today I learned that Calculus is makes everyone feel pretty dumb sometimes. I was simply grateful that I wasn't the only one...**

**Anywhoozles, part two should be out tomorrow. I gotta go do my homework =) **

**Special thanks again to Spacewonder368 for all of her support not only of my own work, but of most all the works on this archive =) we appreciate you, Space =D**


	12. The Haunted House, Part 2

The sun had gone down a few minutes earlier, and after having walked around town to invite people to stop by the temple, Amethyst felt somewhat aggravated at not being able to eat any of the candy she had still been carrying. As stars lit up the sky, Amethyst noticed that children, in various, ghoulish costumes, began running from house to house whilst collecting candy.

With a shrug, she simply continued on toward the temple, determined not to allow the thought of food deter her strength.

* * *

"Pearl! Are you almost ready? People are going to start coming soon!"

"Steven, it's alright," Pearl said, looking down at Steven from where she was hanging more decorations. She stepped down off of her ladder, and smiled at Steven. "What did you need?"

"Well..." Steven began, his eyes shifting toward the decorated walls for a moment before focusing back on Pearl. "It's traditional for people to dress up on Halloween."

"Ohhh, I see," Pearl said with a smile.

Steven watched as her gem brightened for a moment, too strong to look at directly. When Steven opened his eyes, Pearl was wearing a white ninja costume, complete with a katana and face mask.

"Whoa...Pearl! That's awesome!"

"Thank you, Steven," Pearl said with a dazzling smile. "And...I did make you a costume..."

Steven's eyes instantly brightened into stars.

"Really?!" he hollered excitedly.

"Of course." Pearl, who previously had been standing with her hands behind her back, drew her hands out to show Steven the costume she had made for him.

Steven stared at it in awe, a huge smile crossing over his face.

"An alien?! That's bananas!"

Pearl cocked her head to one side, failing to understand. "Do you like it, or should I try again?"

"Pearl! It's perfect! Does it come with a laser?"

"Um...that would be dangerous...Go try it on, Steven."

Steven took his alien costume, complete with metallic-looking fabric for a space suit and a green hood with antennas, and climbed up the steps toward his bed.

"Hey! Pearl? Steven? I'm back with the candy!" Amethyst called from just outside the temple. The house door opened a few minutes later, and Amethyst smiled. "Scary," she commented, her gaze drifting around the room.

"Hi Amethyst!" Steven yelled, peering over the floor of the upper level of the house, his alien hood drawn over the top of his head, but careful not to cover his face.

"Ste-ven! Looking good," Amethyst grinned, putting the candy down.

She pondered what her costume would be for a moment, glancing up at the roof, before smiling. Her gem began to glow, growing brighter and brighter, before a blinding light caused Steven to look away from the crystal gem for a moment. When Amethyst's gem had stopped glowing, Steven looked down and noticed that she was dressed like a lion, but stood on two legs, and had a very shaggy mane.

Pearl placed her chin in her hand as she scrutinized Amethyst's work. "Not bad," she concluded. "But not all that original."

Amethyst rolled her eyes, and then turned back toward Steven. "People will be showing up any minute," Amethyst stated. "Let's finish up."

* * *

"Amethyst! Save some of that candy for the children!"

"Don't tell me what to do, Pearl-"

A large person, wearing a ghost sheet with two eye holes, but also with a cube-shaped head, emerged from the upper level of the house.

"Quit fighting, you two," Garnet said from under her sheet. "You'll scare the children."

"I thought that was the point?" Amethyst asked, irritated.

"Ohhhhhh-! Welcome to the Haunted Temple!" Steven yelled from the upper rafters of the house, looking down upon the gathering crowd. "Please feel free to partake in the spooky snakes that my ghost-friend is passing out!"

"Have some candy," Garnet said in a monotone from under her sheet, bending over to drop sweet tarts into a little girl's pail. The little girl's face crumpled slightly, and she looked as though she were on the verge of tears. Garnet sighed, and stood back up. "Don't worry, I'm a white ghost. I protect people from monsters."

The crowd of people loudly shifted through the room, but Steven heard no screaming. But it did sound as though everyone was enjoying themselves, drinking the punch and eating the popcorn balls and candy corn that he and the gems had set out.

"Everything's going according to plan," Steven said, smiling down at Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst, who had taken a moment to step away from the crowd.

"Everything set for operation midnight?" Garnet asked seriously, as if this were a mission. Steven nodded excitedly.

"I can't wait," Amethyst said mischievously, folding and unfolding her hands in front of herself.

* * *

It was pitch black outside on the beach, and Lars was not a very happy camper.

"I don't even know why we have to go to this stupid, haunted house-thing, Sadie-"

"Shut up, Lars. I covered for you, so you are doing this with me," Sadie said. She was dressed like Frankenstein's monster, but with her natural hair.

"These fangs are getting in the way," Lars mumbled, pulling out his fake vampire fangs for a moment, and cringing when drool got onto his hands. He was dressed like Dracula, including a long black cape that came down to his feet and occasionally brushed the sand.

The duo remained silent for awhile, and Sadie smiled, not allowing Lars to see it, as she listened back to the sounds of the waves softly hitting the sand.

* * *

The single gem that had clinked to the floor of the heart of the crystal temple began to resonate a bit more brightly, before finally looking as though it were cracking open. Like the sound and appearance of shattering glass, or maybe an eggshell, the gem slowly shook and cracked before finally shattering into a million pieces that disappeared into oblivion, and in it's place, a small, russet-colored dragon hatchling stood where the gem once lay.

Letting out a soft roar, the baby dragon spit fire. But not enough to destroy anything.

And then it began to grow.

* * *

"Lars! Sadie! Welcome!" Steven cheered, smiling and hopping down from the house rafters. "What brings you here?"

"We wanted to come see-" Sadie began.

"I was going to go to this party where there would be babes," Lars interjected. "But Sadie wanted me to come to this haunted house for little kids."

"What? Little?" Steven asked, shaking his head. "This place is great. Just look at the cobwebs!"

"Well, they are very...great, Steven," Sadie said uncertainly. "But they are not exactly scary..."

"Aw, there totally scary!" Steven defended. "You could easily get tangled in them..."

"Steven, are you ready? It's getting close to midnight," Pearl called over, beckoning for Steven.

"Um, one sec, you guys," Steven said, holding up a hand to Lars and Sadie before running to see Pearl.

"Whatever," Lars muttered. "Come on, Sadie, let's just get out of here."

"But we need to stay and be supportive," Sadie complained. "You own me."

"And I came. But the least this place could do would be to actually look creepy, and not like some little kid's fun-house..."

"Oi! Everyone! May I have your attention?"

Lars looked over and saw the woman under a white ghost sheet speaking from the upper floor, overlooking the crowd. . "Oh great," he murmured. "This is about to get worse."

"Legend says that a huge monster that once terrorized Beach City used to live by this temple..." Garnet said in her stoic, spooky voice. Pearl and Amethyst got into position.

There was the sound of a large foot fall.

"What's that?" Pearl asked fakely, quickly gathering all of the children's attention.

Another footfall.

"I wonder what it could be?" Amethyst said.

"Steven really out did himself," Pearl whispered to the other gem. "Those footfalls sound real."

Steven looked up when he heard another footfall, and felt as though his heart stopped. Nervously, he glanced up at Garnet, his face beginning to turn pale. The last time he had heard footfalls like this was when Sugilite attacked Pearl.

Garnet, receptive as ever that her student had sensed the danger, shared a slightly reassuring glance with Steven.

"Excuse me, for a moment, everyone," Garnet projected to the crowd when she heard another footfall. "I think there may be a situation."

The crowd of people in the house of the temple, first uninterested by the gem's spiel, but now intoxicated by the sound of the footfalls, kept their eyes trained on Garnet as she leapt down from her perch of the top floor and began to walk for her door to the inner temple.

Just as her gems began to glow, and her door was beginning to unseal, Garnet was suddenly pitched like a rag doll over the crowd and into the opposite wall.

The Garnet's door didn't need to be opened. Huge cracks began to form and cascade up the wall and into the roof, causing a minor amount of wooden chips from the roof to fall into the crowd.

"Everyone, outside!" Pearl yelled, realizing that this was no longer an act. Amethyst followed in suit, opening the door and ushering the panicked crowd out onto the beach's cold sand.

Once only the gems remained inside the temple, the wall finally gave way, and to each of the crystal gems' shock, a huge, red dragon stood in its place.

Garnet watched as the fifty-foot long dragon broke through the roof, spread its wings, and began to fly above the temple.

"Oh no..." Steven wailed.

"This is bad," Pearl fretted. "Amethyst! Garnet! It could attack the guests!"

"On it!" Amethyst yelled, grabbing Garnet's hand and yanking the bigger gem to her feet before all four of them headed out the door of the temple.

* * *

"Sadie! SADIE!" Lars yelled hysterically, diving away from the dragon as it spat fire at the young man, turning some of the sand into glass.

"Yeah, Lars! I told you this would be fun!" Sadie laughed. Everyone else seemed semi-terrified, but ultimately thought that the dragon was a fake.

The gems came out of the temple in a hurry. Pearl took off her ninja mask, threw it aside, and drew her katana. Amethyst nodded, yanking off her lion's mane, and Garnet followed in suit, leaving the white bed sheet on the beach.

"Let's do it!" Garnet commanded. Amethyst ran toward the stronger gem, and the crowd watched as Garnet picked up the crystal gem, jumped into the air, and launched the smaller woman at the red dragon as if it were a crystal eye.

"HA!" Amethyst yelled in battle-cry as she flew towards the dragon at high speed, captivating the crowd's attention. The dragon screeched in fright when it saw Amethyst coming, trying to wince away from the inevitable blow, but was inhibited from doing so by its own size.

Amethyst struck the red dragon's jaw and and dug her hands into the face of the reptile. The dragon crashed from up in the air and landed on the beach whilst distractedly trying to shake Amethyst off of his face, still perfectly conscious. He stumbled blindly over the beach, striking fear into the crowd as he stumbled toward them.

Steven wildly looked back and forth between the crowd of people trying to shuffle away from the dragon, and the three crystal gems that seemed to be antagonizing it further into a state of confusion. As the dragon started head on for the crowd, Steven felt himself begin running, kicking up sand, to where the dragon was headed. When the dragon stood only about ten feet away, and still stumbling toward the crowd, Steven managed to step between the dragon and the crowd just in time. His gem let out a glow, and a tall, semi-circular, pink bubble-shield appeared with its base in the sand and its arc stretching, at highest, ten feet above the people.

Pearl stepped in just in time, poking the dragon in the side with her katana to send it careening in the other direction. As the dragon moved away from the frightened crowd, Steven allowed his shield to evaporate and exhaled deeply in relief.

The dragon let out a low rumble, spread its wings, and began to once again take to the sky. Its large wings sent great gusts of wind, stirring up sand and creating small waves that countered the tide. Steven stared at the dragon for a moment, watching it struggle, and then looked over at the gems, who were driving it back.

"Guys! Be gentle!" Steven panicked, running to where the gems were fighting.

"Steven, stay out of the way!" Pearl yelled, stepping in front of him.

Amethyst was still attached to the dragon's head, clawing at him furiously.

Garnet paused for a moment, noting a small, whitish gem that was visible on the dragon's chest. She looked over at Pearl, pointing toward the gem, and nodded once. Pearl nodded back at Garnet before leaping toward the dragon and jumping to grab onto it's large scales. The dragon hardly seemed to notice Pearl as it struggled with Amethyst. Pearl climbed up toward the dragon's chest, and in one decisive motion, used her katana to carve the gem out of the dragon's chest.

The red dragon stopped moving, and something closely resembling a moan formed within its chest. With a puff of smoke, the dragon disappeared into the gem in Pearl's hand. Amethyst crashed onto the sand beside Pearl less than a second later.

"That was close!" Steven yelled, rushing over to Pearl and Amethyst. He was gasping for breath when he finally arrived a moment later, and looked up to examine the gem from in Pearl's hand. "How did it get out?"

"These things happen sometimes, I suppose," Pearl said, seeming troubled. "Usually, Rose would bubble gems after we found them; her bubbles were the most stable."

"Ugh, it's not like they were that much better," Amethyst groaned, standing up.

"Both of you, relax," Garnet commanded, calmly striding over to where her three teammates stood. The white gem hovered out of Pearl's hand and toward Garnet, where the bigger gem examined it for a moment. With a shrug, Garnet took the gem in her hand, leaned over, and offered it to Steven.

"Will you bubble this?" Garnet asked, and watched as a jovial Steven nodded back at her.

With deep concentration, Steven lit a pink bubble around the gem and teleported it back to the interior of the crystal temple.

* * *

"That was..."

Steven gasped, his head snapping around to face the crowd of people who had been inside the temple, all of whom were still at the shore of the beach.

"Um," he began, trying to think of an apology.

"Incredible!" Lars finished his earlier statement.

It started slowly, with only one, timid person beginning to clap lightly. Soon enough, the entire crowd had grown into wild cheering and applause for the show they had just seen.

The gems turned around when they heard the crowd of people. Pearl blushed a light blue color, and Amethyst grinned, waving off the crowd.

"Excuse me? Everyone!" Steven shouted, and finally got the applause to die down. "I want to thank everyone who came out tonight, and to wish you all a happy Halloween!"

The crowd cheered once again, but upon dismissal began to disperse, leaving the beach temple to return to the city.

Steven caught up to the other three gems in a moment. "Guys! Did you see that?! They loved it!"

Garnet smiled. "I guess some things just work out," she mused, looking over at Pearl and Amethyst.

"We can't be nearly as reckless next time," Pearl said, sounding a bit troubled.

"'Next time'?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, next time," Amethyst confirmed with a grin.

The exhausted gems headed back into the temple.

* * *

**Just to be fair, I pretty sure this is the latest that I have ever posted a chapter. =)**

**Thanks to all the people who support the story.=) and another special thanks to Spacewonder368!**

**Please review, guys! Reviews encourage me to post chapters and keep writing faster. **


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